500 words a day on whatever I want

Amara La Negra

Note: Some of this post might not be strictly true: most of what is written about her is in Spanish and my Spanish is not very good! So corrections are welcomed.

Diana Danelys De Los Santos (1990- ), better known as Amara La Negra or Amara Santos, is a US singer and dancer. Her biggest song to date has been “Ayy” (2013) in the Dominican Republic. She is known for her big Afro, her lovely figure and her sensual dancing. She is beautiful!

She was born to Dominican parents in the US. She was the daughter of a stage mother who lived not far from the Miami studios of Univision, the largest Spanish-language television network in the US. There she grew up before our eyes: at age four she won Miss Chiquitita. From age four to ten (late 1990s) she appeared on the variety show “Sábado Gigante” (1962- ). Later she danced with the likes of Celia Cruz, Gloría Estefan, Oscar de Leon and Los Tigres del Norte. At 19 she won third place on “Diva Latina”.

She has appeared on two other Spanish-language television networks in the US as well:

On Telemundo she has appeared in bit parts in telenovelas such as “Perro Amor” (2010).

On Mega TV she presented for “A Tacón Quita’o” (2011).

As a child she spent so much time working that she never learned to swim, skate or ride a bicycle! But that was hardly the worst of it:

“They said I was too black, my hair was too hard, I insisted on hair relaxers. … In school I was a victim of bullying, I was called whale, frog, cow, I was separated from the girls who were skinny & pretty. It was very difficult.”

At 13 she was 230 pounds (104kg). She lost weight, in time achieving the figure she has now. At 16 she went natural and now she loves her hair. Her grey-green eyes are real.

She is proud to be Latina and Black – “estoy muy orgullosa de ser una negra.” The Dominican press describes her as mulata and morena (brown), meaning they see her as partly White, not completely Black. She is in fact part Italian by blood. There is no One Drop Rule in the Dominican Republic.

Musically she grew up on the Queen of Disco (Donna Summer) and the Queen of Salsa (Celia Cruz) along with Tina Turner and La India. Her own music, as her record company puts it, “ranges from the Tropical to Urban Music, from Afro to Soul, to Dance, to Pop and R&B.” They say she has “strong Latin roots mixed with her purely Yankee style.”

In 2013 she came out with a string of songs. The biggest by far was “Ayy”. Some do not like the video because of the booty dancing. She says the dancing and the short shorts were her mother’s idea! She says of the song:

“The kids have taken over [the song] ‘Ay’ and so I have been criticized but that is a song that is not made ​​for children.”

On October 30th 2014 she is set to appear in “Yo soy la salsa” (2014), a film about Dominican salsa band leader Johnny Pacheco, where she sings songs by the late Celia Cruz.

Glad to see you advancing your horizon to other nations!
For some of us we have been aware of the African blood mixture throughout the world.
I would suggest you do more study about race mixture when you start your studies of other nations, because you may have a few United States racial stereotype believes mixed up. For instance the ‘one drop rule’ was only used in a few states in the United States during the 20th century, yet United States Blacks repeat the rule as though it is a real law. All such laws were repealed shortly after they were enacted and the term mulatto played an important part in some individual’s lives.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
“Today there are few enforceable laws in the U.S. in which the one-drop rule is applicable. Sociologically, however, the concept remains somewhat pervasive in that it is common to classify only individuals believed to be entirely of white ancestry as being white.”
Although racial segregation was adopted legally by southern states of the former Confederacy in the late 19th century, legislators resisted defining race by law to prevent interracial marriages. In 1895 in South Carolina during discussion, George D. Tillman said,
It is a scientific fact that there is not one full-blooded Caucasian on the floor of this convention. Every member has in him a certain mixture of… colored blood…It would be a cruel injustice and the source of endless litigation, of scandal, horror, feud, and bloodshed to undertake to annul or forbid marriage for a remote, perhaps obsolete trace of Negro blood. The doors would be open to scandal, malice, and greed.[2]”
I understand that American Black leaders would like to say that the one drop rule is factual, however I doubt if it will ever hold up in practice. If the one drop rule were to be applied many of the positions of leadership would be taken over by individuals who appeared to be White! The correct term to be used is: “the Accepted modern terms in the United States include “multiracial” and “biracial.””!http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CFUQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpaa2012.princeton.edu%2Fpapers%2F121933&ei=PYpGVPvSHIfc8AHwgYHQDw&usg=AFQjCNHLbJLkhAe7_ma4qXxcUMiQXgZm9w&sig2=McV7At9I5yrU_MAGywldwg&bvm=bv.77880786,d.b2U

Perhaps in asking other to broaden their horizonsite you may choose to fully read the source you quoted. That might slightly broaden yours. Particularly….

“The one-drop rule is a sociological and legal principle of racial classification that was historically prominent in the United States asserting that any person with even one ancestor of sub-Saharan-African ancestry (“one drop” of African blood) is considered to be black (Negro in historical terms). This concept evolved over the course of the 19th century and became codified into law in the 20th century.”

“The one-drop rule was not adopted as law until the 20th century: first in Tennessee in 1910 and in Virginia under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 (following the passage of similar laws in several other states).”

Do you mind pointing to where it says blacks see it as law (that such belief is false) and those few states that had it as law?

How long before the Dominicans come on this thread declaring that she must be a Haitian? Give it time, but maybe she’ll get by the way Zoe Saldana has. Saldana is yet ANOTHER proud Afro-Latina. Others will say she’s mixed, well so is about 99% of African Americans. In fact she sort of reminds me of an Afram woman.Very lovely woman, and I hope that those haters(not all Dominicans) can just accept her status and gloat in her success. She’s super hot

@ Allen
“For instance the ‘one drop rule’ was only used in a few states in the United States during the 20th century, yet United States Blacks repeat the rule as though it is a real law.”

How can you blame them when it was WHITES who made it that way for 400 years prior? If a White appearing person were found to have ANY hint of “Negro” ancestry they risked getting themselves into a lot of trouble. They were not allowed to “pass” just because they looked White in the eyes of the law EVER, not just the 20th century. The “One Drop Rule” was just the one that people always like to refer to as an example, but similar laws were always on the books meant to keep people from passing into White culture. That was part of the reason behind the “Free Persons of Color” status, to create a buffer between themselves and those with Black blood and CERTAIN AMOUNTS of Indian blood.

After enforcing that rule on these semi-White people who were relatives of the people in the larger Black community for so long, how could you expect for them to see people that they have come to know as Black for so long all of the sudden re-designate them as “OTHER”. Black Americans come in a wide range of colors, but they mostly ALL have some degree of White blood. I came from a VAST network of mulatto FPOC around NC and Va., and more than half of my relatives have now seceded the African American ethnic group and moved into White status. That does not change the fact though that we are all descended from the same originally Black, but admixed with Native American and White families.

P.S., I’m African American with 1/3 European dna and 5.2% Native American. Am I suppose to class myself differently than the 100% Black American? See what I mean? It gets sketchy and you can’t read someone’s dna on sight. Some darker Blacks can actually have more European dna than the lighter skinned Blacks. Its all about genetic expression and which gene wins over which trait.

Chris
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
“Although racial segregation was adopted legally by southern states of the former Confederacy in the late 19th century, legislators resisted defining race by law to prevent interracial marriages. In 1895 in South Carolina during discussion, George D. Tillman said,
It is a scientific fact that there is not one full-blooded Caucasian on the floor of this convention. Every member has in him a certain mixture of… colored blood…It would be a cruel injustice and the source of endless litigation, of scandal, horror, feud, and bloodshed to undertake to annul or forbid marriage for a remote, perhaps obsolete trace of Negro blood. The doors would be open to scandal, malice, and greed.[2]””!
I do not blame anyone for anything. I have learned to accept that what came before as the past, which one can learn from or carry to their grave. I have attempted to change that which I can change and accept that some things are not going to change!
I am advancing my thoughts not that I am correct, just the fact that they are my thoughts. You do not have to feel obligated to pay a bit of attention to them!

I read your opinion, which you attempted to pass off as fact. I also read your source which fails to support said opinion. I further offered up questions for clarification.

I never asked you to prove “Blacks believe the rule and I did not say that”. I asked “Do you mind pointing to where it says blacks see it as law (that such belief is false)” . Particularly from your source that you used to support your claims. So again the advice of me reading your entire remarks serves more for you than me.

You also made the claim that it only happened in a few states. Please point to or direct me to thsee supposed few states?

In my experience when people talk about the One Drop Rule they are not thinking of a law but a social practice, a sociological fact of life. Whitewashed people tell me that it is mainly imposed by Blacks. That may be true in their own particular experience, but the idea that Blacks could impose it on US society at large is laughable.

She is a very, very beautiful woman. She is clearly more West African that anything else but the only thing that worries me is that because she also has blood from another continent she might still be used by the same racist agenda.
There are so many gorgeous and beautiful women just in West Africa that do not perpetuate that European beauty bias (google beautiful women West Africa).